Question: why do we have diffrent countries.

Ross King answered on 17 Nov 2015:

Elsie, this is probably one of the most difficult questions I have had to answer so far! This isn’t really science like all of the scientists do in the tungsten zone, but “geopolitical science”, meaning the science of geography and politics.

I think that in the past it was quite clear as to why different countries might have formed. Humans probably lived in tribes and it would have made sense to keep together because food and other resources would have been difficult to find, so this probably led to the formation of very early ‘borders’ of different areas, that we might now call countries.

But why would we still have countries in the modern day? A lot of this, sadly, will be down to money and down to warfare – many countries are interested in keeping their money to themselves and not wanting to share it, this is why they might want to be ‘their own country’. Also, some groups of people don’t agree with others, and so they might wish to be in their own country too.

What do you think the reason is for having different countries? I bet I could learn something from you!